49ers remain near the bottom of USA TODAY power rankings

The 49ers lost their ninth straight game Sunday, falling to 0-9 for the first time in franchise history. Compounding things, they placed three more players on injured reserve this week, upping their total to 23, the most in the NFL.

Backup tight end Cole Hikutini and right tackle Garry Gilliam went on IR after suffering severe MCL sprains. Starting safety Jaquiski Tartt also went on IR after breaking his forearm Sunday, suffering a near-identical injury to Jimmie Ward, the player he replaced.

Big opportunity to get off mat this week with 1-7 Giants coming to Silicon Valley. Might also be right time to roll out fresh tech at quarterback.

With all due respect to our friends at USA TODAY Sports, now is definitely not the time to start Jimmy Garoppolo.

Rookie starter C.J. Beathard was hit 38 times in his three NFL starts and sacked another 14 behind a struggling 49ers offensive line without left tackle Joe Staley. The front five isn’t stable enough to give coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch a good evaluation of Garoppolo’s talents.

Shanahan is hopeful that Staley makes his return from a broken orbital bone after the 49ers’ Week 11 bye. A home game against Seattle Nov. 26 with Staley back may offer a better chance at evaluating Garoppolo as the key piece of a functioning offense.

In the meantime, the 49ers will limp into their Week 10 contest against the New York Giants at Levi’s Stadium, where they haven’t won a game since September of 2016.

The rest of the NFC West was anything but stabile in USA TODAY’s rankings. The Seahawks fell six spots to No. 6 after losing to Washington at home. The Rams moved up two spots to No. 4 following their blowout win in New York. The Cardinals climbed three spots to No. 24 with their win over San Francisco.

Like this article?

Sign up for the Niners Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning

Success

Thanks for signing up.
You'll be waking up a little more awesome tomorrow.